Trump news: Republicans attempt to stonewall impeachment hearing as witnesses outline damning evidence to remove president
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has claimed victory after Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz released his report claiming that the FBI did not pursue a politically motivated investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign — but that agents did tend to favour damaging evidence over exculpatory evidence as the investigation continued.
The report was released as House Judiciary Committee presented and reviewed the evidence accumulated so far in the impeachment inquiry, with charges against the president expected to be drawn up by the end of the week ahead of a potential pre-Christmas vote in the House of Representatives.
During the hearing, Democrats sought to impress upon the American people that the evidence against Mr Trump was nearly undeniable.
Republicans, meanwhile, did their best to throw the hearing off the traicks and raise as many distractions as possible.
The president is meanwhile under fire for hosting pardoned war criminals - army first lieutenant Clint Lorance and major Mathew Golsteyn - at a Florida Republican Party fundraising dinner over the weekend.
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Al Green, a Texas Democrat and one of the first congressmen to call for Donald Trump's impeachment, is watching the hearings today on the sidelines. Photo by The Independent's Andrew Feinberg.
Doug Collins is now beginning with his line of questioning, focusing on Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman.
Doug Collins appears to be attempting to catch Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman in a "gotcha" moment, but the former SDNY prosecutor is only continuing to provide further evidence in how Donald Trump's Ukraine dealings defied the norm of past administrations.
Doug Collins is pressing Daniel Goldman during an exceptionally tense moment of questioning, reminding him he's under oath and receiving a swift response: "I know I'm under oath."
"I'm done with you right now", Mr Collins says.
More from The Independent's Andrew Feinberg:
Collins is demanding that Daniel Goldman say who “ordered” him to check phone numbers against the press and members of Congress, but investigators didn’t have to check numbers against any list — publicly available reverse phone directory tools can easily match a phone number to its owner.
After that tense line of questioning, Doug Collins does not allow Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman to respond, despite Mr Goldman saying Mr Collins was "casting dispersions" against him.
The Republican counsel has taken over questioning, immediately allowing Steve Castor to speak about apparent issues he's had so far with today's hearing.
Republican counsel Ashley Callen will now begin questioning the witnesses. She begins by thanking Steve Castor for talking for 75 minutes (by her count).
The Republican counsel asks about "the partisan nature of this investigation", saying the impeachment inquiry began with an "unsanctioned start" and has been "partisan" ever since.
Here's more from The Independent's Andrew Feinberg as he watches the proceedings inside the room:
House Judiciary Republican Counsel Ashley Callen appears to be walking Steve Castor though a long, drawn-out description of how oversight of executive branch agencies is supposed to work, but all of the examples she is using took place during the Obama administration.
Early on in the Trump presidency, agencies were instructed to not respond to document requests from Democrats, who were then the minority party in the House.
Since Democrats took over the House at the beginning of this year, both the Trump White House and executive branch agencies have continued that trend. Agencies have generally argued that Democrats requests have lacked a “legitimate legislative purpose,” and the White House’s position has been, in a manner of speaking, that oversight of their Republican administration by a Democratic-controlled House is inherently illegitimate because Democrats are “biased” against the president.
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